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THE 



7 



DOCTRINE 



OF 



ELECTION; 

STATED, DEFENDED AND APPLIED 

IN 

THREE DISCOURSES. 



BY EEV. E. P. EOGEES, A. M., 

PASTOR OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, AUGUSTA, GA. 
WITH AN 

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY; 
BY BEY. THOMAS SMYTH, D. D., 







CHARLESTON, S 


c. 






H 


A R T F O 


R 


D. 


PRESS 


OF 


ELIHU GEER, 
MDCCCL. 


10 


STATE ST. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Preface, 4 



Introduction, 



DISCOURSE I. 
Statement and proofs of the doctrine, . . 13 

DISCOURSE II. 
Objections to the doctrine, .... 35 

DISCOURSE III. 
Use and glory of the doctrine, .... 71 






PREFACE. 



The following Discourses were prepared and delivered in 
the ordinary course of the Author's pulpit labors, and without 
any reference to publication. 

In accordance with a general expression of a wish on the 
part of his congregation that they should be printed, and by 
the advice of several of his brethren in the ministry, they are 
now given to the public, in the earnest hope that they may 
be generally useful, and may, with the blessing of the Great 
Head of the church, assist in commending one of the great 
and glorious doctrines of His word, to the hearty faith and 

love of His people. 

E. P. BO GERS. 
Augusta, June, 1850. 



INTRODUCTION. 



On several accounts I am particularly gratified in being: 
permitted to introduce this little volume. As it respects its 
author, it may be regarded as a kind of first-fruits of that 
diligence to approve himself a faithful steward, rightly dividing 
to every man a portion in due season ; which, as it has already 
secured for him the confidence and regard of a large and 
growing congregation, cannot fail to bring forth still more 
abundantly to the glory of God, to the edification of his people, 
and to his own recompense and great reward. 

This volume is not less gratifying, as a manifest proof of the 
prosperity of the congregation for whose benefit it is printed 
and in whose welfare I have ever taken a deep and sincere 
interest. I rejoice with them in the present happy relations 
in which they stand to each other, and to a pastor in whom 
they can so cordially unite ; and my earnest prayer is, that 
they may long continue to grow up together into a holy 
temple in the Lord. 

The doctrine unfolded and treated of in this book, is truly 
one of those "hard sayings" — those " Scriptures which men 
wrest to their own destruction" — or at least to the injury of 
that peace and joy in believing, which would impart the 
assurance of faith to their own hearts, and of that love and 
charity which would fill them with brotherly kindness towards 
all who call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours. 

It might quiet the resentment with which this doctrine is 
repelled by its opponents, were they to consider that fundamen- 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

tal as we regard it to be to the system of the gospel, and as an 
answer to the inquiry how that system was devised and perfec- 
ted, that nevertheless there is a broad platform of common 
Christianity upon which we can meet, where we can walk arm 
in arm, and where we can labor hand to hand with Christians 
of every evangelical denomination. 

We must carefully distinguish between the relation of fun 
damental doctrines, first, to the system of revealed truth ; sec- 
ondly, to the church ; and thirdly, to individual salvation ; since- 
a truth may be essential in any one of these cases and not in the 
others. In other words, what is essential to the scheme of sal- 
vation and to a full confession of what this scheme is, in its 
nature, origin, and plan, is very different from what is essential 
to the being of a church, and to the enjoyment of the benefits 
of salvation by individual inquirers. 

Many things are essential to the conception, design and com- 
pletion of the scheme of salvation, and consequently to that 
system of truth which imbodies the origination as well as the 
actual nature and way of salvation, — which are not essential 
to a participation of all the benefits of that salvation as a scheme 
already finished and complete, and offered to our acceptance. 
It is one thing to ask, " How was this glorious scheme devised 
and perfected, and what is its comprehensive plan?" and 
another to ask, " What must I do to be saved ?" The answer to 
these two questions must be altogether as different as would be 
the answers to the question, " How came I to exist, and how 
am I constituted?" and to the question, " How am I to act so 
as to enjoy and to perpetuate this life?" The one refers to 
the nature of things, and is purely abstract. The other refers 
to duty, and is as purely practical. The one relates to the sci~ 
ence, and the other to the way of salvation. The one describes 
the origin and the method of salvation, the other tells me how 
this salvation may be secured by me. The one unfolds the 
divine philosophy of salvation, and leads us back to its origin in 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

'the counsels of eternity and the covenant of grace, while the 
other puts us in the way and leads us forward to the full and 
everlasting enjoyment of it in a blessed immortality. To the 
former, and not to the latter, belong all those " doctrines of 
high mystery" which are to be " handled with special prudence 
and care," and about which there ever have been such diversi- 
ties of opinion among those who must on all hands be acknowl- 
edged as humble, honest, and sincere inquirers after the true 
knowledge of God's word and will. 

To the scheme of salvation, and a complete system of divine 
truth, these doctrines, that is, whatever is plainly revealed or 
can be properly inferred from the words of inspiration, however 
high and mysterious, must be considered as essential. Here, 
however, there is room given for those diversities of opinion to 
which, in our present state, the nature, capacity, and degree of 
'cultivation of the human mind will inevitably lead, even when 
directed to the study of the Scriptures with prayerful examin- 
ation and habitual docility. About these truths, therefore, 
■there may be an honest, humble, and reverent difference of 
opinion. These are among the things about which even those 
who are " perfect" may be " otherwise minded," without bring- 
ing into question their Christian character, or interfering with 
their Christian union and cooperation in those things " in 
which they are agreed."* 

Another reason which may moderate the resentment cher- 
ished towards this doctrine is that it is not made by the Pres- 
byterian church a test of piety, and therefore not a pre-requi- 
site to Christian communion and membership. As a truth fun- 
damental to the system of revealed truth and the divine phi- 
losophy of the plan of salvation, the doctrine of Election is held 
forth in the standards of the church, taught in her pulpits, her 
works and her catechisms, and made necessary to be both 



* See discourse by the author on the fundamental doctrines of Christianity and 
PhiL, A. S. S. U. 



Ylll INTRODUCTION. 

received and believedby those who assume the office of bishops 
or elders. But while the effectual call, the saving faith, and 
the godly sorrow of every true penitent who seeks admission 
to her membership, are believed to be the fruits of this heaven- 
ly tree and the streams from this divine fountain, yet it is not 
believed that a perfect knowledge and understanding of this 
high mystery, is essential to the experience of " the power of 
God unto salvation." 

Another observation which may lead to a less prejudiced ex- 
amination of this doctrine of Election is, that it is not a doctrine 
peculiar to revelation, but one which is found imbodied in 
the whole system of divine government. The objections, there- 
fore, and the prejudice against this doctrine, apply equally to 
every department of the divine workmanship and providence. 

A belief in this doctrine is founded in that constitutional prin- 
ciple of our nature, by which we are led intuitively and neces- 
sarily to believe that every effect must have a cause fully ade- 
quate to its production. For when we consider this whole 
universe as one system, governed by one mind, regulated by 
His will, and conspiring to the promotion of His glory, we are 
irresistibly led to believe that every thing was constituted 
according to a divine plan, is carried on by divinely appointed 
laws, and is made to work together for the accomplishment of 
His purposes. 

The very conception of God as omniscient, omnipotent, om- 
nipresent, and equally existing in the past, present and future 
eternity, implies in it all that is involved in the doctrine of Elec- 
tion, as it regards every part of His wide dominion, and teaches 
us that every thing which takes place in nature, providence 
and grace, comes to pass in accordance with the fixed purpose 
and will of God, which must be eternal. Sovereignty, fore- 
knowledge, predestination, predetermination, and efficient 
direction and control are necessary parts of God's universal 
providence over all His works, and over all His intelligent crea- 
tures. The farther science advances, the clearer is the proof 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

that this knowledge and this providence are essential to the very 
nature of God ; whether therefore, we look to the heavens or the 
earth, to the elements, the seasons, the productions of our globe, 
its minerals, its plants, or its animals, we find the same fixed 
and invariable laws, by which all are governed and directed. 
We are therefore told that not a sparrow can fall to the ground 
without our heavenly Father's knowledge, and that the hairs 
of our head, as well as our days, are all numbered. The same 
thing is true in the moral government of God, the only differ- 
ence being this, that in this kingdom, free, moral and account- 
able beings are the subjects of God's dorninion. His govern- 
ment is adapted to their nature, and works in them to will and 
to do of His good pleasure. All objections, therefore, to the 
doctrine of predestination as it regards the kingdom of grace, 
are overruled and set aside by the existence of the same prin- 
ciples of divine procedure, throughout God's wide and univer- 
sal dominion, and the only question left for reason and inquiry 
is, " Is this doctrine taught in the word of God ?" If it is, then 
any objections against it are inapplicable, since they apply as 
much to God's nature and providence, as these are manifested 
in every other department of His works. 

One other remark which I would make is, that reprobation 
is not included in the doctrine of Election. Reprobation is not 
a counterpart of Election. Election or choice implies it is true 
that some are not chosen, who are called in Scripture, " the 
rest." But it is not less true that reprobation in Scripture is 
never opposed to Election or used in connection with it. 

A person in Scripture language may be reprobate and yet 
elected. " Know ye not," says the apostle, "that Jesus Christ 
is in you, except ye be reprobates?" 2 Cor. 15:15. There 
was a time when Christ was not in Paul, and when Paul 
was mad against Christ. " But," says he, " it pleased God to 
reveal His son in me." Until then Paul was reprobate, but he 
never was non-elect, but was on the contrary chosen or elect in 



X INTRODUCTION. 

Christ before the world was. And so has every child of God 
been found naturally, and has remained reprobate, " without 
Christ in the world," until called by His grace, and enabled to 
make their calling and Election sure. 

Again, reprobation in Scripture is always distinguished from 
Election, by having direct respect to the character and condi- 
tion of the party so described; whereas, Election is an act of 
God's sovereignty arising merely from the will of God, without 
any fitness or merit hi the individuals elected. Sin and 
unbelief are the characteristics of the reprobate; and continu- 
ed impenitence, unbelief and sin constitute the only reason why 
God will punish those who die reprobates. The end of God's 
decree in this case, is not the condemnation of the creature, 
but the manifestation of His own glorious justice. And as sin 
is the effect of man's free will, and condemnation is the effect 
of justice, so the decree of God is the cause of neither. 

Reprobation in Scripture stands opposed, therefore, not to 
election but to approbation. Hence vile professors are compar- 
ed to the alloy or dross, frequently mixed with metal, which 
on trial is found base or deficient in quality. " Reprobate sil- 
ver shall men call them, because God has rejected them." 
Jer. 6 : 30. Thus also the apostle means to say that the mere 
profession of any man in whom Christ is not, is of no value. 
It will at last be found mere refuse. All such " are nothing 
and less than nothing." 2 Cor. 13:5,6. Thus also men of 
corrupt minds are called "reprobates concerning the faith;" 
that is, persons destitute of a true understanding of the truth. 
2 Tim. 3: 8. See also Tit. 1: 16 and Rom. 1:26 — 29. 

It is therefore manifest that reprobation in Scripture does not 
mean that a person is not elected to salvation, and much less 
that he is absolutely appointed to eternal misery, but that in 
his present character, principles or conduct, he is regarded with 
disapprobation by God. 

Election therefore, let it be remembered, is neither the cause 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

nor the occasion of damnation. Election arises out of God's 
sovereign will, and has exclusive reference to the salvation of 
a sinner who deserves damnation, and can therefore in no way 
be predicated upon that sinner's claims to mercy. Damna- 
tion on the contrary, arises from the holiness of God's nature, 
and the equity of His government, and has reference to the guilt 
of the individual damned. If then it be right in God to punish 
sin, He must resolve and determine to do so. This however 
is not Election, nor in any way consequent upon it. 

But I must conclude, and would therefore express the hope ? 
that this volume will be examined with that candor and pray- 
erful consideration, which the importance of the subject 
demands. 

THOMAS SMYTH. 

Charleston, S. C, June, 1850. 



ON ELECTION. 



DISCOURSE I. 

STATEMENT AND PROOFS OF THE DOCTRINE. 

" God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, 
through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." 

2 Thessalonians, ii : 13. 

From this passage of Scripture I deduce, 
and my object will be to prove and defend, the 
Calvinistic doctrine of Election. No article of 
the christian scheme has received such treat- 
ment, alike from friends and foes. Its friends 
have been afraid to maintain it — its foes have 
assailed it with denial, vituperation, and ridicule. 
Yet while there is no truth of more value and 
interest to men, so there is none more susceptible 
of abundant proof and confirmation from the 
word of God. And as Protestant Christians, 
regarding the Holy Scriptures as the only and 
the sufficient rule of faith and practice, we turn 
2 



14 DISCOURSES 

" to the law and the testimony," and endeavor 
to ascertain what is the teaching of the Holy 
Ghost in respect to this much abused, often 
misrepresented, yet comforting and glorious 
doctrine. 

In order to prepare the way for the intelligent 
consideration of the doctrine before us, I call 
your attention to a few plain, scriptural propo- 
sitions. 

I. God is the absolute Sovereign of the 
Universe. 

" The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice." 
(Ps. 97 : 1.) " The Lord is a Great God, and 
a great King above all gods." (Ps. 95 : 2.) 
" He doeth according to His will in the army of 
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, 
and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him 
what doest thou?" (Dan. 4: 35.) " The Lord, 
He is the true God, He is the living God, and 
an everlasting King." (Jer. 10 : 10.) "Thy 
throne God, is forever and ever." (Ps. 45 : 6.) 
" His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and 
His dominion is from generation to generation." 



ON ELECTION. 15 

(Dan. 4: 3.) " He is the blessed and only 
Potentate, the King of Kings and the Lord of 
Lords." (1 Tim. 6 : 15.) 

God then is absolute Sovereign and Ruler of 
the world. He was sovereign in its creation — 
the calling it into being by the word of His power, 
was of His own will and for His own pleasure. 
He is sovereign in the ordering of its affairs, in 
the natural, the providential and the moral 
world. He must be supreme and absolute, or 
He cannot be God. 

II. All men, His creatures, are by 

NATURE IN A STATE OF RIGHTEOUS CONDEMNA- 
TION FOR SIN AGAINST GOD. 

" The soul that sinneth it shall die." (Ezek. 
18 : 4.) " The imaginations of man's heart 
are evil from his youth." (Gen. 8 : 21.) " I 
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 
conceive me." (Ps. 51 : 5.) " There is not 
a just man upon the earth, that liveth and sinneth 
not." (Eccl. 7:20.) "All we like sheep 
have gone astray." (Is. 53 : 6.) " There is 
none upright among men." (Micah 7 : 2.) 



16 DISCOURSES 

" They are all gone out of the way — they are 
together become unprofitable, there is none that 
doeth good, no, not one." (Rom. 3 : 10.) 
" All have sinned and come short of the glory of 
God." (Rom. 3 : 25.) " The carnal mind is 
enmity against God." (Rom. 8:7.) " He 
that believeth not is condemned already." 
(John 3 : 18.) " The wages of sin is death." 
(Rom. 6 : 23.) " By nature children of wrath, 
even as others." (Eph. 2 : 3.) This is the 
natural state of all mankind — a state of sin, of 
condemnation, of death. 

III. From this state of sin and death, 

THERE IS NO DELIVERANCE FOR MAN, BUT 
THROUGH THE MERCY OF GOD. 

" Israel, thou has destroyed thyself, but in 
me is thy help." (Hosea 13 : 9.) " Look 
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth, for I am God and there is none else." 
(Is. 45 : 22.) " For God so loved the world, 
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." (John 3: 16.) "By 



ON ELECTION. 17 

the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified 
in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of 
sin." (Rom. 3 : 20.) " The sting of death is 
sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But 
thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory 
through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 15 : 
56, 57.) " The wages of sin is death, but the 
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." (Rom. 6:23.) "By grace are 
ye saved through faith, and that not of your- 
selves, it is the gift of God." (Eph. 2 : 8.) 

Man by his fall from original holiness, has lost 
all claim to the favor of God. He is a rebel 
against his government ; he is an alien from His 
love. He cannot ask for love and favor now 
from his Sovereign, for he has put himself into 
a hostile attitude, and over him hangs the 
anathema of a broken law. There he must lie 
so far as himself and his own character are con- 
cerned, in hopeless, helpless ruin. He was 
made upright, but he has sought out many 
inventions, and now he lies in the ruins of 
apostacy, a sad hopeless wreck of all that was 
once fair, noble, and God-like. I know that 

this doctrine of the depth and hopelessness of 

2 # 



18 DISCOURSES 

man's fall and the dark condition into which he 
is thrown by sin, is a humbling and repulsive 
doctrine to the natural heart. But if there be 
any truth taught us in the word of God, it is 
this : — Man is now in a state of sin and just 
condemnation, from which he never can be 
raised but by the mere mercy and grace of God. 

IV. But God is under no obligation to 

SHOW THIS MERCY TO APOSTATE MAN. 

The awful breach between God and man was 
effected by the act of man alone — he began 
the controversy between himself and his Maker. 
Like the apostate angels, he first raised the 
standard of rebellion, and boldly waved it in 
the very presence of God. And if the Almighty 
had lifted his right arm, and hurled him down 
to the dungeons of eternal night, a fellow prisoner 
forever with the lost sons of the morning, who 
will dare to say that it would have been unjust ? 
what plea could man urge why the sentence of 
the law he had broken, should not be inflicted 
to the uttermost upon him? Why had he so 
waywardly broke away from God? Why had 



ON ELECTION. 19 

he lifted a rebellious hand against his lawful 
Sovereign ? — Coming from His creative hand, a 
being whose magnificent endowments proclaimed 
him a glorious work of Omnipotence, and fur- 
nished with powers and faculties, which would 
have been strengthened, refined and exalted in 
the service of his Maker, it was a sad, an awful 
thing, that he should have so soon used these 
very powers and faculties only in sinful and 
wanton disobedience, and while he daringly 
insulted his Sovereign and Friend, inflicted an 
irreparable wrong upon his own soul. Of such 
disobedience nothing but hopeless ruin could be 
the result. And on what ground could God 
have been laid under any obligation to interfere 
and stay man's suicidal hand ? He spared not 
the rebel angels — why should he spare him ? 
No ! this is the stern fact with regard to man. 
When he sinned against God, and brought upon 
himself and his posterity to the end of time, the 
wasting and blighting power of the curse of the 
law, his condemnation was just, and had God 
executed it to the utmost upon him, and swept 
him as with the besom of destruction, down to 
an everlasting hell, not a shade would have 



20 DISCOURSES 

dimmed the lustre of His throne, not a faltering 
or discordant note would have been heard in the 
anthems of praise and adoration, which the 
angelic hosts are ever sending up before His 
majestic presence. 

Remember then my hearers, what is man's 
state and prospects, considered simply as a 
sinner against God. Look steadily on the 
picture, dark and threatening as it is. There is 
no light there. A world of rebels, justly con- 
demned to die, is before you. A holy, just, 
immaculate God offended — an immutable law 
disobeyed ; a universe of holy beings assenting 
to its condemnation, as just and right ; this is the 
panorama which the apostacy has stretched out 
before you. Look upon it, and as you behold 
what God and His law are, and what man as a 
sinner is, you must see the awful gloom of 
despair settling down upon it, and say, in tones 
of agonizing, reluctant conviction, ." There is no 
hope for man — God only can save him, but 
there is no obligation upon him to do so — it is 
not to be expected that he will do so — then 
man must be lost." Not so, for 



ON ELECTION. 21 

V. God has actually determined, out 
of His mere good pleasure, that he will 

SAVE A PORTION OF MANKIND FROM SIN AND 

FROM DEATH OR, IN OTHER WORDS, GOD HAS 

ELECTED SOME TO EVERLASTING LIFE. 

Inasmuch as our standards have been much 
misrepresented in regard to this doctrine, I will 
before adducing the scriptural evidence in its 
behalf, state as clearly as I can, what we as 
Calvinists, understand by it. This then is the 
sum of it. " Man having by wilful and deliberate 
transgression sinned against God, fell under his 
wrath and curse. All men regularly descended 
from Adam, became children of wrath, alienated 
from the life of God, and utterly destitute of 
original righteousness. The consequence was, 
that sentence of condemnation actually passed 
upon all men. Unless we are prepared to 
question or impugn the stainless justice of God, 
we must admit that this sentence, thus solemnly 
passed upon the race, was a righteous sentence. 
Out of this race of guilty and polluted sinners 
thus justly condemned, God graciously and 
eternally selected some to life and happiness and 



22 DISCOURSES 

glory, while He left the rest in their state of 
wretchedness and ruin, and determined to inflict 
upon them the punishment which they justly 
deserved. The reason why he elected some, 
and passed by others, where all were equally 
undeserving, is to be referred wholly to himself, 
to the counsel of His own will, or His mere good 
pleasure." (Thornwell on Election, p. 67.) 
Let us now adduce the proofs of this doctrine 
which are furnished by the Scriptures. "Blessed 
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
w^ho hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings 
in heavenly places in Christ, according as He 
hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of 
the world." (Eph. 1 : 3, 4.) " In whom also 
we have obtained an inheritance, being predes- 
tinated according to the purpose of Him who 
worketh all things according to the counsel of 
His own will." (Eph. 1 : 11.) " Knowing 
brethren beloved, your election of God." (1 
Thess. 1 : 4.) " But we are bound to give 
thanks always to God, for you, brethren beloved 
of the Lord, because God hath from the begin- 
ning chosen you to salvation through sanctification 
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. (2 



ON ELECTION. 23 

Thess. 2 : 13.) " Elect according to the 
foreknowledge of God the Father through 
sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus." (1 Peter 
1 : 2.) Our Saviour declares, (John 15 : 19,) 
" I have chosen you out of the world, therefore 
the world hateth you." " All that the Father 
giveth me shall come unto me." (John 6:37.) 
The Apostle (Rom. 11 : 5,) says, " Even so 
then at this present time also there is a remnant 
according to the Election of grace." Our 
Saviour also saj^s, " I speak not of you all, I know 
whom I have chosen." (John 13 : 18.) " Ye 
have not chosen me but I have chosen you." 
(John 15 : 16.) " I have manifested thy name 
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the 
world ; thine they were and thou gavest them 
me." (John 17: 6.) "When the Gentiles 
heard this, they w^ere glad and glorified the 
word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained 
to eternal life, believed." (Acts 13: 48.) "And 
we know that all tilings work together for good 
to them that love God, to them who are the 
called according to His purpose. For whom He 
did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be 



24 DISCOURSES 

conformed to the image of His Son, that he 
might be the first born among many brethren. 
Moreover, whom He did predestinate them He 
also called, and whom He called them He also 
justified, and whom He justified them He also 
glorified. Who shall lay any thing to the charge 
of God's elect ?" (Rom. 8 : 28 — 30.) " God 
is faithful by whom ye were called into the 
fellowship of His Son." (1 Cor. 1:19.) 
" God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to 
obtain salvation by our Lord." (1 Thess. 5 : 
9.) " God who hath saved us, and called us 
with a holy calling, not according to our works 
but according to His own purpose and grace 
which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the 
world began." (2 Tim.l : 9.) " They went 
out from us because they were not of us." (1 
John 2 : 19.) " Whosoever was not found 
written in the book of life, was cast into the 
lake of fire." (Rev. 20:15.) "And there 
shall in no wise enter into it anything that 
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination 
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in 
the Lamb's book of life." (Rev. 21 : 27.) 
I have quoted but a small part of those 



ON ELECTION. 25 

passages in the word of God, which teach 
directly or indirectly the doctrine of Election. 
Their language is plain and unequivocal, and 
cannot by any just rules of interpretation be 
made to teach any other than our doctrine. If 
there is any meaning in language, they declare 
that there was in the mind of God, a determinate 
purpose to confer the blessings of holiness and 
eternal life on a portion of His creatures. 

But there are several points involved in this 
doctrine of election, to which I must now call 
your attention. 

I. It is a personal election. By this I 
mean that it is a choice of certain individuals to 
spiritual blessings. There is an election spoken 
of in the Bible, which is national ; where nations, 
as such, have been elected to special privileges 
and favors by the Almighty Ruler of the universe. 
There is also an election of persons to particular 
offices — and of Christ to the office and work of 
a Mediator between God and man. But there 
are many passages of Scripture which obviously 
cannot be thus understood and applied. Paul 
in writing to the Christians at Ephesus, uses 
3 



26 DISCOURSES 

this language of himself and them : "According 
as He hath chosen us in Him before the founda- 
tion of the world, that we should be holy and 
without blame before Him, in love." This 
cannot be spoken of a nation, or a community, 
but of individuals of whom the writer himself 
was one. And he goes on in the same chapter 
to the special blessings which w^ere theirs as 
individuals, which could not be predicated of 
nations. " Having predestinated us unto the 
adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to himself. 
In whom we have redemption through His blood, 
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches 
of His grace." The blessings of which the 
apostle speaks here, to which those whom he 
addressed were predestinated, are spiritual and 
Saving blessings, blessings which therefore could 
not be spoken of as belonging to communities, 
but to individuals. 

II. Election is unconditional and abso- 
lute. — By this I mean that it is wholly 
irrespective of any good works wrought by man, 
as its foundation, but arises out of the mere 
good pleasure of God. The language of our 



ON ELECTION. 27 

Confession of Faith, (Sec. 5,) is, " Those of 
mankind that are predestinated unto life, God 
before the foundation of the world was laid, 
according to His eternal and immutable purpose, 
and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His 
will, hath chosen unto everlasting glory, out of 
His mere free grace and love, without any 
foresight of faith or good works or perseverance 
in either of them, or any other thing in the 
creature, as conditions or causes moving Him 
thereunto, and all to the praise of His glorious 
grace." In confirmation of this view we direct 
you to the language of the apostle in 2 Tim. 
1:9, " Who hath saved us and called us with a 
holy calling, not according to our works, but 
according to His own purpose and grace which 
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world 
began:" — and again, Titus 3 : 5, "Not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, but 
according to His mercy he saved us." 

This is the most humbling and unpalatable 
view of the doctrine of Election. In the strong 
pride of our nature, we shrink from that which 
is a gratuity, and which we cannot purchase or 
deserve by some work or merit of our own. 



28 DISCOURSES 

Thus the Arminians say that God has chosen to 
save all that repent and believe, because of 
their faith and repentance, which He foresaw 
would be exercised by them. This view suspends 
the election of the saints upon their own faith 
and good works, and not upon the absolute 
purpose of a sovereign God. They say, the 
only reason why one man is elected and another 
is not, is that the one repents and believes, the 
other does not. Now you must not understand 
us as saying, that the divine decree of Election 
is entirely irrespective of means, and that repen- 
tance and faith are not indispensably necessary 
to its final accomplishment. But we say that 
this faith, repentance and obedience which the 
-elect do in all cases profess and exercise, is not 
the ground or reason of their Election, but that 
this is found only in the purpose of God. And 
this is obvious, first from the fact, that faith in 
the creature is in consequence of Election, and 
not Election a consequence of faith. "As many 
as were ordained to eternal life, believed." 
(Acts 13 : 48.) Here it is stated that those 
who believed were ordained to eternal life before 
their faith, and consequently believed because 



ON ELECTION. 29 

they were thus ordained. The inference is 
irresistible that those who were not ordained to 
eternal life did not believe. "All that the 
Father hath given me shall come to me." (John 
6 : 37.) Here the Saviour teaches that the 
coming to Him on the part of all who do come or 
believe, is in consequence of such having been 
given to Him by the Father — and again, (John 
6 : 39.) " And this is the Father's will which 
hath sent me, that of all which He hath given 
me I should lose nothing." Here again the 
.final salvation of believers is said to be based 
upon the will or purpose of God, and not upon 
faith, repentance, or good works of their own. 
If the faith of the sinner be the ground of election, 
then he elects God, and God does not elect him. 
His choice of God is the ground of his salvation, 
and not God's choice of him. But this is 
directly opposed to the language of our Saviour 
in John 15 : 16, " Ye have not chosen me, but 
I have chosen you ;" and " Because ye are not 
of the world, but I have chosen you out of the 
world, therefore the world hateth you." 

In fact, the whole tenor of the language of 
the Scriptures is that the cause of election is the 
3* 



30 DISCOURSES 

sovereign pleasure of God, and not any consider- 
ations derived from the character of the creature. 
Thus, " having predestinated us unto the adoption 
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according 
to the good pleasure of His will." (Eph. 1 : 5, 
11.) And, " Who hath saved us, and called us 
with a holy calling, not according to our works, 
but according to His own purpose and grace, 
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the 
world began. (2 Tim. 1 : 9.) The Apostle 
in treating of the sovereignty of God in election, 
says, "For He saith to Moses, I will have 
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will 
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 
So it is not of him that willeth nor of him that 
runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." 
(Rom. 9 : 15, 16.) " Therefore He hath mercy 
on whom He will have mercy, and whom He 
will, he hardeneth." (Rom. 9 : 18.) It would 
be difficult to find language which could teach 
the doctrine that Election is absolute and uncon- 
ditional, in plainer or more decisive terms than 
this. 

III. Election is eternal. — By this we 



ON ELECTION. 81 

mean that the purpose of God, to save a portion 
of the human race, was an eternal purpose — 
that it always existed in the Divine Mind. If 
God saves men at all, He has determined to 
save them. He never acts without a purpose, 
in any thing which he does. If then He 
determined to save them, there is no absurdity 
in supposing that he always determined to do 
so. Not only so, but this determination must 
have been eternal. Whatever purpose God has 
now, He always has had. Whatever purposes 
He will have in regard to the destiny of man, 
He always had. He is the same in all His 
designs as well as in all the essential attributes 
of His character, " yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever." No contingency can arise under His 
all wise government, which requires Him to 
adopt new principles of action, different designs, 
and an altered course of Providence. " Known 
unto God are all His works from the beginninc;; 
of the world." (Acts 15 : 18.) All the decrees 
of God are eternal, but there is a prominence 
given in the Scriptures to that of Election. — 
" According as He hath chosen us in Him, before 
the foundation of the w r orld." (Eph. 1 : 4.) 



82 DISCOURSES 

"According to His own purpose and grace, 
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the 
world began." (2d Tim. 1 : 9.) From these 
passages, we learn that the purpose of God to 
save a portion of the human race is eternal* 

I have thus set before you a brief and simple 
statement of the Calvinistic doctrine of Election, 
and the scriptural basis on which it rests. It is 
a purpose of God to rescue from the condem- 
nation of sin in which all mankind are justly 
involved, a certain portion, and raise them to 
holiness and eternal salvation. I have shown 
that this purpose respects individuals ; that they 
are personally regarded in the divine decree, 
and designated as infallibly destined to eternal- 
life ; that their election is not in consequence of 
any less amount of sinfulness in them, or any 
foreseen faith, repentance or good works, 
exercised and practised by them, but that it is 
out of the mere good pleasure of a sovereign 
God and for His own glory, and that this purpose 
is an eternal purpose, always and unchangeably 
existing in the divine mind. I shall proceed in 
subsequent discourses to answer objections to 
this doctrine, and then endeavor to show its real 



ON ELECTION. 33 

excellence and glory. For although no doctrine 
of the word of God has been so misrepresented, 
abused, and perverted ; though Christians have 
looked at it with timidity, and often shrank from 
its bold avowal ; though sinners have stumbled 
over it into the infernal pit, and infidels have 
made it their scoff and their jest, yet I maintain, 
and hope that I shall be able to show you, if 
you will listen with any degree of candor and 
attention, that there is no doctrine in the holy 
Scriptures more glorious to God, more full of 
comfort and strength to the Christian, while it is 
the only one that opens the door of hope for the 
sinner, and bids him "flee from the wrath to 
come and lay hold on eternal life." 



DISCOURSE II. 

OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE. 

" God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation,, 
through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." 

2 Thessaloxiaxs, ii : 13. 

In my last discourse I endeavored to place 
before you a simple statement of the doctrine of 
election, as it is held, by the Presbyterian 
Church. In that discourse I only aimed at 
making you acquainted with what we believe, as 
Calvinists, and the texts of Scripture upon 
which we rest that belief. It is my purpose at 
this time, to answer the various objections which 
have been urged against it. 

But before I do this, I will make a few remarks 
upon the doctrine of Reprobation as we hold it. 
It is commonly said that if the doctrine of election 
is true, or if Grod has determined from all eternity 
to save a portion of the human race, then it 
follows that He has also determined from all 
eternity, to damn all the rest. This is not a fair 



36 DISCOURSES 

statement of the doctrine which the Scriptures 
teach, and which we believe. You must 
remember, that all men by nature are in a state 
of righteous condemnation for sin, and that it 
would have been no more than just and right in 
God to have left them in that state of ruin, in 
which they had by their own guilt involved 
themselves. If they be left in that state, they 
will inevitably perish, but they perish in conse- 
quence of their own sin. It requires a positive 
agency on God's part to secure their salvation, 
but it requires no such agency to insure their 
destruction. " The wages of sin is death." If 
then God out of His mere good pleasure exerts 
this positive agency, and insures the salvation 
of some, does this make Him the destroyer of 
the others ? If He simply lets them alone, or 
passes them by, can it be said that He created 
them only to make them miserable forever ? 
Without His intervention all must perish, and 
perish justly. No part of them have any right 
to expect this intervention. It was never made 
in behalf of any of the fallen angels. It has, 
however, for reasons known only to God, been 
made in behalf of a part of mankind. That part 



ON ELECTION. 87 

will be saved ; the others, being simply left alone 
in their fallen state, under the condemnation of 
a holy law, will sin on, and perish. It is just 
as certain that they will do this as that the elect 
will believe and be saved. But how is God 
justly chargeable with it? — How does the mere 
leaving of men in a state in which they have 
wilfully placed themselves, subject God to the 
awful charge of effecting, by a positive agency, 
the damnation of His creatures ? Suppose a 
whole province of an empire had rebelled against 
their monarch. His administration had been 
mild, kind, and just. Not one subject had ever 
had good reason to complain of him, in any 
particular. Yet they rebel, they conspire to 
pull down his throne, they throw his whole 
reahn into disorder, they take arms against his 
life, and light the torch of rebellion with a 
ruthless hand. They are defeated, brought to 
justice, tried and condemned to die. Every 
good subject approves the sentence. They 
deserve death, and all are righteously con- 
demned. If now the monarch chooses to 
extend the royal clemency to a portion, while 
he allows the law to take its course with the 
4 



38 DISCOURSES 

rest, is this tyrannical or despotic ? Is he the 
cause of the death of the unforgiven portion? 
The sentence was a just one ; does the decree 
of mercy to some, make it any the less just? 
Do they suffer any more than the righteous law 
which they had violated, decreed that they should 
suffer? They were indeed reprobated — their 
destruction was certain, but who destroys them, 
their Monarch, or their own rebellion ? 

Tou can see the analogy here plainly. The 
lost state of man is not one into which God has 
brought him by any positive influence, which 
man could not resist — it is a state into which 
indeed God permitted him to fall, but into which 
he freely fell. God's decree of election finds 
men in this state, it did not put them into it. 
It saves some from this state, it leaves the rest 
just where it found them, and who can complain 
of this? This is what I understand by the 
doctrine of Reprobation. 

The various objections to the doctrine of 
election may be classed under two general heads. 

I. It is derogatory to God. II. It is 

DISCOURAGING TO MAN. 



ON ELECTION. 39 

In respect to the dishonor which the doctrine, 
according to its opponents, puts upon God, it is 
said that it is contrary to His justice, His 
goodness, and His truth. 

I. Men say that it is unjust in God to save 
some and leave others of the race to perish. 
Let us consider this objection. Justice is the 
rendering to every man his due. If I hire a 
laborer for a certain price, and he performs his 
amount of stipulated labor, justice requires that 
I should pay him the full sum, recognized in the 
contract. If I withhold a part, it is unjust — I 
must pay him what he has earned, according 
to our agreement. But if I employ two men on 
the same terms, and having paid both according 
to agreement, choose to make one of them a 
present, over and above his wages, have I not a 
right to do it, and is there any injustice to the 
other, in the transaction ? He has received his 
due, and has no claim upon me for anything 
more. Out of my own pleasure I add a gratuity 
to what I had already given, and thus make a 
distinction between him and his fellow. Will 
any man say that I am guilty of any injustice in 



40 DISCOURSES 

so doing? Neither of the parties had any 
claim upon me for any thing beyond what their 
labor deserved, and any addition is a gratuitous 
act, which should excite the gratitude of the 
recipient, while it affords no cause of complaint 
on the part of him who was passed by. Now 
as these two men had neither of them any claim 
upon my bounty, so the fallen race of Adam had 
no claim upon the mercy of God. All had 
sinned, and all were condemned: God and 
angels beheld them all in the same condemnation. 
If all had been left to perish in sin, no stain 
could have been cast upon the character of God. 
There would have been no injustice in leaving 
them all under a condemnation which was just 
and right ; a condemnation similar to that under 
which the apostate angels perished. But if all 
might justly have been left in their sins, and 
exposed to the natural course of the law, may 
not a part be left, and yet God be just ? If 
any are saved, where all alike deserved to die, 
is it not a gratuity, a matter of mercy, free and 
sovereign, and not of law and justice ? Does 
this reverse the decision of the law in the case 
of the rest, and make their condemnation an act 
of injustice ? 



ON ELECTION. 41 

If the government chooses to select out of a 
company of rebels, who have all been con- 
demned, by the highest tribunals in the land, 
for the crime of high treason, a certain portion 
for pardon, and proceeds, to inflict the just 
sentence of the law upon the rest, is there any 
injustice here ? There would be, if the govern- 
ment had been the occasion of their rebellion ; 
if a positive influence had been exerted upon 
them, to force them to sin ; then any discrimina- 
tion in favor of a portion of the rebels would be 
obviously unjust. But if they had wilfully and 
unreasonably rebelled, and justly brought upon 
themselves the penalty, then all, being in the 
same condemnation, never had any claim upon 
the government, and if any are spared it is an 
act of gratuitous mercy, and does not affect the 
claims of justice or stop the course of law in 
respect to those who are passed by, and left 
unpardoned. 

How then does the doctrine of election impugn 
the justice of God ? Men are all sinners — God 
has not made them such. The idea is blasphe- 
mous, and cannot be tolerated for a moment. 
As sinners they are all justly condemned to die, 
4* 



42 DISCOURSES 

and no power in the universe can save them 
from that just desert, except the God whose 
holy law has pronounced their doom. But he 
is under no obligation to interpose in their 
behalf. Aside from His special revelation, 
there was no reason to suppose that he would. 
But He has revealed a purpose to do so in the 
case of some. And what of the others ? Why 
He simply leaves them where they are ; He 
does not add a feather's weight to their con- 
demnation ; He does not make their case a whit 
more hopeless than it was before ; he simply 
lets them alone, and they are lost, but God is 
just. That He saves any is a wonder of mercy 
far beyond what could have been expected ; far 
more than the annals of human law, and earthly 
sovereigns have ever recorded. If a corres- 
ponding instance should occur in the history of 
men — if out of a thousand rebels who had been 
justly condemned to die for their crimes, five 
hundred of them were spared, it would be 
considered as a splendid instance of mercy and 
compassion, and no one would ever dream of 
calling it an act of injustice that the whole were 
not pardoned. But when God, the Sovereign 



ON ELECTION. 43 

of the universe, whose creatures have rebelled 
against Him, and are all condemned to die, 
announces that He will not execute the dreadful 
penalty upon all, but will out of His mere good 
pleasure rescue a portion, and that too at an 
infinite sacrifice, men impiously arraign His just- 
ice, in the exercise of His clemency, and that, 
which would exalt an earthly monarch in their 
estimation, is made an occasion of senseless and 
wicked reproach and scorn in the case of the 
Almighty and glorious Sovereign of the universe. 
Show me an earthly king who has ever done 
anything half as merciful as this. Amid all 
the exhibitions of love, where is one parallel 
with this ? " If there be any love in the gift of 
God's only begotten Son to die for us — if there 
be any love in the sufferings and death of Christ 
— if there be any love in rescuing millions and 
millions of souls from hell, and raising them to 
everlasting glory and felicity, then is Election 
the fruit of love and not of wrath. For Election 
lies at the foundation of redemption, and all its 
beneficent results — "for whom He did predes- 
tinate, (that is, whom He chose in Christ Jesus, 
before the foundation of the world) them He 



44 DISCOURSES 

also called, and whom He called them He also 
justified, and whom He justified them He also 
glorified.' So far should we be from repudiating 
this precious doctrine, or investing it with terror, 
that we ought to cling to it as the ground of our 
hopes, and fly to it in seasons of trial as the 
anchor of our souls." (Boardman on Elec- 
tion, p. 16.) 

II. Another objection to our doctrine is that 
it limits and restricts the love of God. The 
language of our opponents is "as God is infinitely 
good, He must delight in the happiness of all His 
creatures. How then can He select a portion 
of them as the objects of His special regard, 
and leave all the rest to perish ? Surely it is 
more honorable to the Deity to suppose that He 
makes no discrimination among them, as this 
doctrine implies, but loves them all with an equal 
love, and employs in all instances the same 
means for their salvation." 

This is indeed a very attractive light in which 
to present the character of God to sinful and 
ruined man. Men who are condemned for crime 
had much rather hear of mercy than of justice — 



ON ELECTION. 45 

justice is what they fear the most. God is 
good — His goodness is written on the fair face 
of nature, on the flowers, the forests, the 
meadows, the rivers, the stars in characters of 
light and beauty. And it is graven on the 
pages of His word as " with a pen of iron, and 
the point of a diamond." But is the doctrine of 
Election the only thing that seems inconsistent 
w T ith the goodness of God? Go back to the 
garden of Eden. Why did God permit sin to 
enter that blessed and peaceful abode, to turn 
its flowers into thistles, its music into thunders, 
its fruitfulness into sterility, and its happiness 
into wo ? Is this consistent with perfect 
goodness ? Stand on Mt. Ararat, and look upon 
a buried world — populous cities submerged — 
happy homes desolated — a whole race swept 
into a wretched eternity. Is God good ? See 
the fiery shower descend upon the cities of the 
plain — like hissing serpents the flames seize 
upon the devoted dwellings — the mother clasps 
her babe to her bosom, and shrieks in agony as 
the hot breath of the conflagration scorches her 
cheek — huge walls and lofty palaces totter and 
fall, burying thousands beneath their ruins, 



46 DISCOURSES 

while the insatiable flame leaps madly on its 
devouring way. Does this look like goodness ? 
Go to doomed Jerusalem when the avenging 
Roman is treading her glory in the dust. Grim 
visaged war has drank the blood of her noblest 
sons. Gaunt famine has dried up the fountains 
of tenderness in the hearts of her daughters, 
and driven them to devour in the madness of 
hunger, their own children. Misery, yea, the 
deepest hell of misery riots madly over the once 
glorious city. Is God good? Look at all the 
sickness and pain, and hunger and want, which 
prey upon men ; look at the vice that festers in 
dens of infamy, until it breaks out into a foul 
and hideous blotch on the face of society, and 
tell me, is this, too, consistent with the perfect 
goodness of the Sovereign of the universe? — 
Yea, lean over the battlements of Time and look 
into Eternity; gaze upon the horrors of hell, 
for you will not deny hell if you do Election ; 
see the smoke of its torment ascending up forever 
and ever ; listen to its weeping, and wailing, and 
gnashing of teeth, which cease not forever, and 
then tell me, is the doctrine of Election the only 
thing that seems inconsistent with the goodness 
of God? 



ON ELECTION. 47 

But what is the goodness of God ? The great 
difficulty with man, as to a correct understanding 
of the doctrines of revelation is, the impossibility 
of his fully comprehending God. We are so 
apt to measure the Divine Being by human 
standards, that we forget that He is infinite and 
we are finite, and that we can no more fully com- 
prehend Deity than we can create a world. 
The goodness of God is in perfect harmony with 
all the other essential attributes of His character ; 
with His absolute sovereignty, His inflexible 
justice, His immaculate holiness. The moment 
it comes into conflict with any of these, it ceases 
to be perfect goodness, and He to be a perfect 
God. Now the idea of infinite goodness in the 
Creator, does not imply that He must, by the 
necessity of His nature, do all the good that 
He can do to each one of His creatures. — 
Goodness cannot be perfect goodness unless it is 
guided by wisdom, limited by justice, and 
sanctioned by holiness. It is that attribute in 
the Divine character, that element in the nature 
of God, which prompts Him to seek the good of 
His whole universe as a whole, and in that 
method which will most certainly magnify His 
own perfections. 



48 DISCOURSES 

But if the goodness of God binds him to do 
all He can for the happiness of every individual 
in the universe, then how is it possible to reconcile 
His goodness with His treatment of the angels ? 
We are told that He spared not the angels that 
sinned, but cast them into chains and darkness, 
reserved unto the judgment of the great day. 
Why do not men denounce God as a tyrant, as 
much for not saving even a portion of those 
glorious sons of the morning who rebelled, as 
they do for the doctrine that He has determined 
to save a portion only of the fallen human race ! 
They were far more splendid and magnificent 
specimens of His creative power and goodness ; 
but He elected none and passed by all of them. 
Why may He not do so with regard to men ? 
Do you say lost angels deserved their punish- 
ment for their daring rebellion ? But why did 
God permit them to rebel, if His goodness binds 
Him to do all the good He possibly can to every 
individual of the universe? And what do 
ungodly sinners deserve for their rebellion? 
Now here is a fact for those who say the 
doctrine of Election is inconsistent with the 
goodness of God. " In the case of an order of 



ON ELECTION. 49 

creatures, every way more exalted than our 

own, God has displayed His sovereignty in 

allowing some of them to fall to rise no more, 

while He has confirmed the remainder in holiness 

and happiness." Here is a new count in the 

indictment which man would impiously bring 

against God. 

But again. — How do you account for the 

fact that under the administration of a God of 

infinite goodness, a vast number of His creatures 

do actually perish forever? When you have 

disproved election, you have not disproved 

retribution. You may blot out this doctrine 

from your Bible, but you cannot blot out hell 

from its pages. Unless you take your stand 

with Infidels, and Deists, and Universalists, you 

must believe that a large portion of the human 

race do perish forever. What will you do with 

this fact? You say that the doctrine that God 

has determined to save a part of the race from 

sin and death, and to leave the rest just where 

their sin has placed them, is a slander upon His 

character. It is just what the Universalist will 

tell you when you assert that any will be lost. 

I challenge the world to show that the doctrine 
5 



50 DISCOURSES 

of election, or reprobation, sends one solitary- 
sinner to hell, who would not go there just as 
certainly without it. This doctrine makes no 
man a sinner — it forces no man to hell who 
would otherwise go to heaven. The retributions 
of a miserable eternity are for sinners, wilful, 
incorrigible, determined sinners, and if there 
were no such thing as election or non-election, 
there would still be the same retribution for the 
same sinners. 

If then, under the administration of a God of 
infinite goodness, millions of the human race are 
actually lost forever, and if the doctrine of 
election does not destroy this vast multitude, but 
really insures the salvation of a part of mankind, 
who would otherwise be all lost, how can men 
of sense or candor say that this doctrine is 
dishonorable to the divine perfections ? Unless 
God does interfere in behalf of men, all must 
perish. The objectors to our doctrine admit 
this, at least those who receive the teachings of 
the Bible in respect to regeneration. They 
acknowledge that unless God interposes in 
man's behalf, he must justly and inevitably 
perish forever; that there is no hope for man, 



ON ELECTION. 51 

in himself, and that his help must come from 
God. When the Scriptures then, plainly reveal 
for man's encouragement that God does intend 
to afford this help to a portion of the race, not 
revealing how large or how small this portion 
may be, yet giving us reason to believe that it 
will in the end embrace by far the greater part 
of the human family, it is a very strange and 
unaccountable thing that men should cavil at 
such a revelation, as derogatory to the goodness 
of their Maker, and inflicting a blow upon the 
perfections of His character. It would indeed 
be a glorious thing for the wicked if they could 
annihilate the justice of God, and limit His 
sovereignty and bring Him down to their puny 
and imperfect standard, and paint Him all smiles 
and favors for His rebellious and ungodly 
creatures. But they must change the whole 
face of nature first, as well as blot the pages of 
revelation. They must remove every vestige 
of the flood from the mountains, and valleys, and 
forests and morasses of the earth ; they must 
fill up the dismal waters of the Dead Sea; they 
must rebuild in all their pristine glory, Nineveh, 
and Babylon, and Tyre, and Jerusalem, and 



52 DISCOURSES 

restore the "scattered and peeled" remnant of 
Israel to the splendors of the olden times. They 
must do all this before they can deface the 
memorials of God's absolute sovereignty, or blot 
out the trophies of His awful justice. And they 
must tear out of the Bible every warning, every 
threatening, every description of the state and 
prospects of the wicked, every image of wo, and 
wrath, and desolation, before they can proclaim 
immunity for the condemned, and salvation for 
the lost, independent of the eternal and merciful 
purposes of a sovereign God ! 

III. The third objection which is urged 
against the doctrine of Election, as it respects 
the character of God is, that it makes Him to 
appear insincere in the universal offer of salva- 
tion in the Gospel — and is inconsistent with 
His declarations that He has no pleasure in the 
death of the sinner ~ that He is not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should come 
to repentance. 

The many passages in the Bible which 
inculcate such sentiments on the part of God, 
are relied on, as utterly inconsistent with our 



ON ELECTION. 53 

doctrine. Now if we are to understand these 
passages as teaching that there is a fixed purpose 
in the Divine mind actually to save all mankind, 
then of course the doctrine of Election falls at 
once to the ground. The Universalist boldly 
takes this position, and says that when it is 
declared that "God is not willing that any 
should perish," and that "He will have all men 
to be saved," it means that it is God's determi- 
nation that none shall perish. But this is a 
position which my hearers will hardly be willing 
to assume, even for the sake of ridding them- 
selves of the bugbears of Calvinism. But if 
these passages do not teach that all will be 
saved, then they teach nothing inconsistent with 
the doctrine of Election. If God ha sa purpose 
to save all the human family, then all will be 
saved. But all evangelical Christians reject 
this doctrine with abhorrence. 

How then are we to understand those passages 
which speak of the love of God to His creatures, 
and His reluctance that any of them should 
perish ? Simply as the language of a benevolent 
God, to whom the suffering of His creatures is, 

in itself, not an object of desire, though He has 

5 # 



54 DISCOURSES 

decreed and will inflict it where deserved. 
The love of God is of two kinds ; the general 
benevolence which He feels towards His 
creatures, and that special complacency which 
He takes in all holy beings. To the former 
love, we must ascribe all the blessings of 
Providence, such as God bestows when "He 
makes His sun to shine upon the evil and the 
good, and sends rain upon the just and the 
unjust." Now you would not say that because 
God thus dispenses the daily mercies of life 
alike to the good and the bad, therefore He 
regards them both with the same feelings of 
affection. A parent may not be willing that his 
child should suffer punishment; the pain and 
anguish of the child may be abhorrent to his kind 
and benevolent feelings, and yet he will 
resolutely inflict chastisement upon him for 
disobedience, " nor stay his hand for his crying." 
Those passages then which speak of the love of 
God for all His creatures, and which represent 
Him as declaring that He has "no pleasure at 
all in the death of the wicked," are to be 
understood as expressing the general benevolent 
feeling with which He regards the beings whom 



ON ELECTION. 55 

He has made. God marks even the sparrow's 
fall, and delights in the happiness of the smallest 
insect, but this general benevolence of His 
character, will never interfere with the infliction 
of the stern penalty of His law upon the 
incorrigibly wicked. 

But we are referred to another class of 
passages, which it is said are inconsistent with 
our doctrine. They are those which contain 
the invitations to repent and return to God, 
addressed to all mankind — such as " Whosoever 
will, let him take of the water of life freely," 
and others of like character. '" What a mockery 
it is," say the objectors, "for God thus to invite 
all men to be saved, when He does not intend 
that they shall all be saved." This objection is 
plausible, but as fallacious as any that have 
been considered. I reply to it, that the universal 
offer of salvation is no proof that every man 
individually, to whom it is offered, will be saved. 
When that offer comes to you, it does not address 
you by name, and say, you A. or you B. are 
certainly included in the number of the elect. 
But the offer is universal, so that it may be the 
ground of hope to every man, to encourage him 



56 DISCOURSES 

to seek salvation. God has not revealed to us 
who are elected, and who not, and therefore to 
afford a basis of faith and hope for man every- 
where, He addresses all alike, and presents an 
universal offer of salvation. He must do this, 
or else reveal to men his secret purposes, and 
if He does not see fit to do this, what other 
course can He pursue but call upon all men to 
seek salvation, as it is freely offered in the 
Gospel. 

But again — the calls and invitations of the 
Gospel which are addressed to all men, are not 
to be considered as revealing God's purposes, 
but as declaring man's duty. You will acknowl- 
edge that all men ought to do right, taking as 
the standard of right, what the law of God 
requires. Election or non-election have nothing 
to do with this question of universal duty. It 
is the duty of all men to repent of sin, and 
forsake it, whether they are saved or not. It 
is the duty even of the fallen angels in hell to 
do right ; nothing can justify sin, or alter the 
inflexible laws of rectitude in the case of a single 
individual. The murderer condemned to die, 
is, in his dismal dungeon, just as much under 



ON ELECTION. 57 

the obligation of civil and moral law as when he 
was a free, innocent citizen, and though it may 
seem a mockery to repeat the statute against 
murder to him, while he is in his cell awaiting 
execution, still it sets forth his duty and 
establishes the majesty of right. The commands 
and exhortations to all men, to repent and 
believe, set forth the duty of all men, but they 
do not determine that all men will obey and be 
saved. God must call upon all men to repent, 
because it is the duty of all men to do this, and 
God never exerts any positive influence upon 
them to keep them from doing it. If He did, 
the command would indeed be a mockery, and 
an insult. But if we say He does this, we 
make God the author of sin, which is as absurd 
as it is blasphemous. Those passages of Scrip- 
ture in which all men are exhorted to repent 
and believe, indicate what is the duty of all 
men, and not what is the purpose of God in 
respect to them. " They tell us what we are 
to do for God, not what God is to do for us." 

II. We come now to the objection which 
relates to the influence of the doctrine of election 
to discourage man. And we can show that as 



58 DISCOURSES 

it is not dishonorable to God, so neither is it 
hopeless for man. Says the objector, "If God 
has chosen a certain portion of the human race 
to salvation, and their number is unalterably 
fixed, then we have no responsibility in the 
matter. If we are of the elect we shall be 
saved, in any case, and if we are not elected, 
there is no use in effort." This is the standing 
argument, presented on all occasions, and by 
every class as an irresistible answer to our 
doctrine. And yet a more absurd, illogical 
semblance of an argument could not be framed. 
It is difficult to believe that sensible men can 
really use it sincerely. I will first show that 
men reject this mode of reasoning in respect to 
every thing else, but their religious interests. 

All men agree that God has ordained the laws 
and operations of the vegetable kingdom, and 
that it is by His power that plants germinate 
and produce fruit. Now suppose a farmer 
should say, " It is ordained either that I shall 
have a crop, or that I shall not. If I am to 
have it, I shall have it, in any case, and there 
is no need that I should trouble myself to do any 
thing about it. If I am not to have a crop, why 



ON ELECTION. 59 

nothing that I can do will be of any use." 
Would you regard that as very sound logic ? A 
sick man reasons, " It is appointed by God, either 
that I shall recover or I shall not. If I am to 
recover, I shall in any case ; and if I am not, 
there is no use for me to take any medicine. 
The thing is decreed, one way or another, and 
I have nothing to do but wait the issue." A 
man has fallen overboard, and is struggling in 
the waters. A rope is thrown him. He 
reasons, "It is decreed either that I shall be 
drowned, or I shall not. If the latter, I shall 
be saved at all events, and if the former, there 
is no use in trying — I must drown." If I 
were to tell you that a man had actually reasoned 
in this way, the involuntary exclamation from 
every one would be, "he is mad!" Yet this 
is the very same sort of argument which men 
use when they say, "If I am elected I shall be 
saved ; and if not, I cannot be saved let me do 
what I will." 

But let us take a method, other than the 
"reductio ad absurdum" to prove the fallacy of 
this mode of reasoning. God has decreed that 
certain things shall come to pass. He has 



60 DISCOURSES 

decreed also, and this is an essential part of His 
purpose, that they shall come to pass by 
appropriate means. For instance, He has 
decreed that the earth shall produce her fruits 
for the support of the human race. He has 
also decreed that this result shall be produced 
by the use of agricultural processes. Men are 
to plough and enrich the ground ; sow the seed, 
and cultivate the crop. But when they have 
done this, they have not insured the harvest. 
The process of germination and growth must go 
on — the sun must shine— the rains must fall — 
the breezes must blow, and all the machinery of 
nature must work in concert with man, before 
the result is produced. Unless man works, 
there will be no crop ; and unless God works 
there will be none. If man refuses to use the 
means which God has appointed, there is nothing 
in God's decree which will produce the crop. 
God has not determined to produce it that way. 
That would be a miracle, and no man has a 
right to expect that God will work a miracle to 
prosper him in his indolence. Apply now this 
principle to the doctrine before us. God has 
decreed that a certain part of mankind shall 



ON ELECTION. 61 

be saved. But how is this to be accomplished ? 

Are they to be snatched up as by a whirlwind, 

and on the rushing blast hurried into the 

kingdom of heaven ? Are they to be compelled, 

by an arbitrary power, to bow themselves before 

God; and receive salvation whether they will 

or not? Or are there certain means which are 

to be used to this end? Those who use these 

means always, and in every case, obtain the 

end. There is a portion of this congregation 

who are cherishing a hope of salvation. It is 

certain that they will be saved. How do they 

differ from those who have no such hope ? They 

have felt and manifested real sorrow for sin; 

they have prayed earnestly and constantly for 

forgiveness. They have received the Lord 

Jesus Christ into their affections as a Saviour ; 

they have abandoned their former evil ways, 

and though in much weakness and imperfection, 

they are trying to live like Christ, and do His 

most holy will. Have the other part done these 

things? No! their consciences have often 

reproved them for not doing them, they have 

often felt inclined for a moment to attend to her 

calls, but it has been so convenient for them 
6 



62 DISCOURSES 

to evade the claims of duty by quarrelling with 
some doctrine like the one we are considering, 
and in many other ways, that while others have 
obeyed the commands of God and obtained a 
hope in Christ, and thus made their "calling 
and Election sure," they still remain without 
God and without hope. If they die in this state, 
as all may, and doubtless some will, they will 
be forever lost. But what will consign them to 
perdition forever ? Will it be the doctrine that 
they were not elected, or their own neglect of 
those means which God has inseparably connected 
with salvation, and without the use of which no 
man on earth can be saved? 

But, again replies the objector — "Your 
doctrine is a discouraging one ; it represses 
effort. I cannot tell that I am one of the elect, 
and therefore I have no encouragement to try." 
My dear friend, do you ever act on this principle 
in reference to any thing else ? When you were 
in college, several prizes were promised to those 
members of your class who should stand highest 
in scholarship. There were three prizes and 
fifty competitors. You reasoned thus : "Three 
will certainly gain these prizes ; they are offered 



ON ELECTION. 63 

to all ; I do not know that I shall be one of the 
successful competitors, therefore it is of no use 
to try." What would be thought of you if you 
had withdrawn from the contest on such grounds 
as this? Even though the probabilities were 
three to fifty against success, yet it would be a 
most craven spirit which would decline the trial. 
Much more then if the number of prizes was 
unlimited ; even though you were sure that there 
would not be as many as the numbers of the 
class, yet if the limit was not fixed, it would add 
greatly to the hopefulness of the case. You 
see men daily risking their property in lotteries, 
where the chances are thousands to one against 
success, but each hopes that he may be the 
lucky one. Now you say to me : I do not know 
that I am one of the elect. True, but do you 
know that you are not? And how can you 
know that you are elected, so long as you neglect 
to do those things which the elect always do, 
and the doing of which makes it evident that 
they are elected? You know just as much 
about it as any man does, and that is, that God 
has a purpose of mercy towards a part of the 
human race ; He has not told us how small or 



64 DISCOURSES 

how large; but that a part will certainly be 
saved. You know, too, that in consequence of 
this purpose He has made a sacrifice for the 
salvation of men, of infinite worth, and sufficient 
in its intrinsic value to justify every sinner. 
You know that the offers of the gospel are 
addressed to every man, and that every man 
who accepts those offers will be saved. This is 
all you need to know, all you can well know in 
this world, and if you wait for a special revelation 
from God, before you will repent and believe, 
that revelation will flash upon you in the light 
of the unquenchable flame. 

I put this question to the men who object to 
our doctrine, on the ground of its tendency to 
discourage effort. What have you ever done to 
secure the salvation of your soul ? Have you 
ever faithfully used one means of salvation? 
Are you not to-day, an impenitent, and conse- 
quently an unforgiven sinner, with the wrath of 
God abiding on you ? If so, what will you gain 
by quarrelling with this doctrine ? If you blot 
it from the Bible, does it make your case any 
better ? Will you be any nearer heaven than 
now? No ! you will still be just where you are, 



ON ELECTION. 65 

an unforgiven sinner, under the curse of God ! 
And if you live and die thus, your soul will be 
lost, and it will not be chargeable to the doctrine 
of Election, but to your own wickedness and 
folly in refusing to repent and believe that your 
sins might be forgiven. 

What force then has this objection — " Election 
gives me nothing to do." It gives you just as 
much to do, as if there were no such doctrine. 
There never was a man who obtained the hope 
of the Christian, who did not put forth all his 
energies to obtain it. He alone reaches the 
kingdom of heaven, who agonizes to enter in at 
the straight gate, who with indomitable perse- 
verance pursues his toilsome journey, w r restles 
with sin, resists temptation, grapples boldly with 
every spiritual foe, and finally by dint of 
desperate fighting, comes off conqueror, and 
more than conqueror through Him that has loved 
him. Away then with this senseless objection : 
I do not know that I am elected, and therefore 
it is of no use for me to do any thing. You are 
to do something that you may know. This is 
the way in which all Christians obtained a hope 

that they were elected. You have no right to 
6* 



66 DISCOURSES 

suppose that you are not one of the elect. 
God has not revealed it to you, and it is 
presumption in you to assume that you are left 
out, in His purposes of mercy towards your 
ruined race. It is just as truly criminal 
presumption for a man to assume that he is not 
elected as to claim that he certainly is ; while 
he as yet has no evidence that such is the fact. 
Would you know that you are one of the elect ? 
Do that which your conscience, and the word of 
God, and the instructions of the pulpit, and the 
admonitions of pious friends, tell you is your 
immediate and solemn duty. Repent and believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, take up your cross, 
deny yourself and follow the Saviour, and then 
you may hope to receive God's Holy Spirit, to 
witness with your spirit that you are in truth a 
child of God ; that you are of those who are 
"called according to His purpose." 

The last objection which time permits me to 
notice is, that Election is inconsistent with man's 
freedom. "If," say our opponents, "the event 
in the case of every man is pre-determined 
positively, and it is decreed that he shall be 
either saved or lost, how can he be free in 



' ON ELECTION. 67 

choosing or rejecting God?" Concerning these 
two things, the absolute sovereignty of God and 
the entire moral freedom of man, all we can say 
is, that there can be no doubt of the truth of 
each. The one is clearly taught in the word of 
God, and is indeed essential to the idea of 
Deity; the other is equally proved by human 
consciousness. If there is any thing of w^hich 
we are certain, it is of the freedom of our own 
volitions. A man considers himself insulted 
when his freedom is questioned, and often 
proclaims it with bold and determined emphasis. 
In the transactions of our daily lives, in our 
plans of business, and all that we do in our 
earthly history w^e are conscious of freedom. 
You came to the sanctuary this morning freely: 
you will return to your homes as freely as you 
came. You will to-morrow enter freely upon 
all your business operations, and carry out the 
plans which you have formed in respect to the 
transactions of life. And yet all these things 
were embraced in God's purposes, and deter- 
mined before you w T ere born. How does that 
destroy your freedom, and your accountability ? 
You can remember a time w T hen you felt some 



68 DISCOURSES 

unusual interest in the subject of religion 
Tour conscience was remarkably active, and 
urged you to abstain from certain wrong courses 
of conduct and to do certain other right things ; 
yet you did not follow her dictates ; you went 
contrary to her precepts and pleadings. Did 
you act freely then, or not? You object to the 
doctrine of Election. Do you object freely, or 
are you compelled to do it ? Perhaps some of 
you will do something this afternoon, which will 
be a breach of the Sabbath. You will walk or 
ride out for your own amusement. Will you. 
do this freely, or will you act under compulsion?' 
I have heard of persons who have vowed that 
they would never be seen within the houise of 
God. They will probably be lost. Are they 
free in making such a wicked vow ? And if 
they go to hell, will any want of moral freedom 
send them there ? 

You say, if the event is certain, then there is 
no use in making efforts. You all admit that 
God is omniscient ; that He knows every thing 
past, present, and to come. Then of course 
God must have certainly known always, who 
would embrace the offers of the gospel and be 



ON ELECTION. 69 

saved, and who would reject those offers and be 
lost. But does this knowledge on the part of 
God interfere with the freedom of man? It 
makes the event certain. If God is omniscient 
and He knows that such and such things will 
come to pass, then they must come to pass or 
God is not an omniscient God. But how does 
this certainty in the mind of God, affect the 
freedom of those who act hi bringing these 
things about? Before the battle of Waterloo 
was fought, God knew what the issue would be, 
as certainly as after it occurred. But did this 
affect the plans and movements of Wellington 
or Napoleon ? Did they not lay their plans, and 
conduct their troops according to their own 
judgment, with perfect freedom? Do you not 
see that the objection to the doctrine of Election, 
or predestination, is just as strong against the 
foreknowledge of God, and are you prepared to 
deny that ? 

Now in the case of man, it is not merely his 
salvation or perdition that is embraced in the 
purpose of God, but all the means which produce 
either result. Our text declares, that " God 
hath from the beginning chosen (His people) 



70 DISCOURSES ON ELECTION. 

unto salvation, through sanctification of the 
Spirit, and belief of the truth." The truth then 
is to be believed, if man is to be saved. That 
truth is placed before him, and he is to choose 
whether he will be a believer or not. He is 
called upon to believe ; it is his duty to believe ; 
he is told that if he believes he will be saved ; 
thousands of men have believed and are saved. 
He refuses to believe, and is lost. It was 
certain always to the mind of God that he would 
do this, but he has done it freely, and has 
destroyed himself. Away then, with such idle 
and baseless objections to this doctrine. — 
Address yourselves to present duty — spend the 
time in seeking salvation, which you now spend 
in quarreling with God's purposes; "give all 
diligence to make your calling and Election 
sure," or you perish, hopelessly and forever 
perish ! 



DISCOURSE III. 

USE AND GLORY OF THE DOCTRINE. 

" But we are bound always to give thanks to God for you, 
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the 
beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of 
the Spirit, and belief of the truth." — 2 Thessalonians 
2 :13. 

In my former discourses on this subject, I 
have endeavored to explain the Calvinistic 
doctrine of Election, to show the scriptural 
grounds on which it rests, and to answer some 
of the objections which are urged against it. 

It is possible that there may be some minds, 
who are in this attitude in respect to this 
doctrine. They believe that it is taught in the 
word of God. It is embodied in the creed of 
that branch of the church of Christ to which 
they belong. They are not able to deny it, yet 
they yield a reluctant assent to it. They do 
not receive the doctrine cordially, and they had 
rather not Jiave it urged upon their attention. 



72 DISCOURSES 

They consider its discussion unprofitable, and 
ask, what is its practical use ? and why should 
it be presented from the sacred desk? 

Now it would be a sufficient answer to this 
inquiry, that the doctrine in question is a part of 
that " whole counsel of God" which His ministers 
are commanded " to shun not to declare." And 
so long as an inspired apostle has told us (2 
Epis. to Tim. 3 : 16) that " all Scripture is given 
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc- 
tion in righteousness;" and in his same epistle 
(2 : 15) charges the minister thus, " Study to 
show thyself approved unto God, a workman 
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing 
the word of truth;" so long the ministers of the 
Lord Jesus, commissioned by Him to declare 
His truth, are guilty of unfaithfulness to their 
solemn duty, if they keep back any part of the 
complete, symmetrical, harmonious system re- 
vealed in the word of God. They are to preach 
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth, as they would answer to their Master at 
the judgment day. 

Another reason why all the doctrines of the 



ON ELECTION. 73 

christian scheme ought to be fully and faithfully 
presented from the pulpit, is the superficial and 
erroneous views, current in the community in 
respect to doctrine as a means of grace, and 
sanctification of believers. " Truth is in order 
to goodness;" and there is no maxim which 
unites more of philosophical absurdity and 
licentious tendency, than that "it is of no 
consequence what a man believes, so long as his 
conduct is right." For men who do not think 
right, will not be likely to act right. And we 
deem it not an unwarrantable statement, that in 
all the ordinary cases of religious experience, 
there is no such thing as the conversion of a 
sinner, or the progressive sanctification of a 
Christian, but through the influence of divine 
truth upon the mind and heart. What are 
called the practical duties of the Christian life, 
grow out of its doctrines, and he who in obedi- 
ence to the superficial taste of many in the 
church, neglects these doctrines, while he gives 
his people what are called " practical sermons," 
will soon degenerate into a mere moralizer, 
rather than be a faithful expounder and defender 

of the truth of God. 

7 



74 DISCOURSES 

But there are other reasons why this doctrine 
should be often made the theme of our investi- 
gations, and the subject of our meditations, and 
these are found in its own intrinsic worth and 
usefulness. There is hardly a doctrine in the 
Bible which we can so ill spare as this ; none, the 
loss of which would in a greater degree diminish 
the comfort of the Christian, and destroy the 
hope of the sinner. Yes ! this abused, misrep- 
resented, reviled and persecuted doctrine, lies 
at the very foundation of all our hopes, and is 
the glorious ladder by which we climb from the 
depths of sin and the jaws of hell, to the lofty 
heights of a holy and eternal heaven. 

Before proceeding to show the use and glory 
of this doctrine, I would observe, that the views 
of Calvinists are very grossly, and it would 
almost seem wilfully, misrepresented on this 
subject, and there are some who are so blinded 
by prejudice, that they cannot or will not see the 
truth even when it is held up before them. 
They are the men, who represent Calvinists as 
teaching that God has created a certain portion 
of His creatures, for the express purpose of 
making them forever miserable in hell. That 



ON ELECTION. 75 

this portion of His creatures are destined to 
perdition, let them do what they will; that the 
elect will be saved, no matter w T hether they 
make effort or not, and the non-elect will be 
damned, in spite of all that they can do to avoid 
so dreadful a doom. The non-elect are repre- 
sented as perfectly helpless creatures, in the 
hands of a despot who exerts a positive influence 
upon them to keep them from repentance, and 
then punishes them in hell forever for not 
repenting. Men w T ho can say this after hearing 
the statements which Calvinists make, or reading 
their writings on this subject, are either too 
obtuse to understand plain language, or too 
much prejudiced to acknowledge the force of 
their arguments, and must be allowed to 
caricature and abuse our doctrines to their 
hearts' content. There is nothing to be gained 
by arguing with them. But to those who are 
sincere inquirers after truth, and who are willing 
to be convinced, we rejoice to present our 
argument, and esteem all our labor as well spent 
if we relieve a solitary mind from an erroneous 
impression, or shed one ray of light upon the 
darkness in which this subject has been most 
unfortunately and needlessly involved. 



76 DISCOURSES 

The language of our standards which speaks 
of Election as "absolute or unconditional," has 
often been misunderstood and often misrepre- 
sented. When we say that Election is uncon- 
ditional, we do not mean that God determines to 
save men, no matter what their characters may 
be, but that as this decree of Election was made 
when all men were sinners, and under a just 
and hopeless condemnation, it was not based 
upon man's character, but God's good pleasure. 
As men actually were, when God determined to 
save a portion of them from their lost estate, 
there was nothing in their characters which God 
could make the ground of His merciful purpose. 
It originated therefore in His own good pleasure. 
And this is abused authority proved in various 
passages of Scripture. "Having predestinated 
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ 
to himself, according to the good pleasure of 
His will, in whom also we have obtained an 
inheritance, being predestinated according to 
the purpose of Him who worketh all things after 
the counsel of His own will." (Eph. 1 : 5 — 11.) 
"Who hath saved us and called us with a holy 
calling, not according to our works, but according 

■ 



ON ELECTION. 77 

to His own purpose and grace, which was given 
us in Christ Jesus, before the world began." 
(2 Tim. 1:9.) "Not by works of righteous- 
ness which we had done, but according to His 
mercy He saved us," &c. (Titus 3:5.) These 
passages show that so far as the ground of the 
decree of Election is concerned, it is uncon- 
ditional ; that is, not founded on any goodness 
in the creature, but arising solely out of the 
sovereign will and pleasure of the Creator. But 
the decree is not irrespective of the character 
of men in its actual operation. God does not 
decree to save men in their sins, but from their 
sins, and this salvation from sin can only be 
brought about by the repentance and faith of 
the sinner, who by penitence, reformation, and 
a holy life, uses those means which God has 
inseparably connected with His decree of 
Election. Unless those means are used, there 
is nothing in the decree that can save him. 
There is in fact, no decree at all, for God has 
determined to save the sinner only in one way, 
and that is, through repentance of sin and faith 
in the Lord Jesus Christ. No sinner ever was 

saved in any other w x ay than by repentance and 

7* 



78 DISCOURSES 

faith, and none was ever lost in any other way 
than by remaining in wilful impenitence and 
unbelief. 

The following illustration may perhaps explain 
this point more clearly: — In a hospital for 
orphans there are a number of destitute and 
friendless children. They are all strangers to 
me, and have no claim upon my bounty. Out 
of their number I determine to select several, 
and adopt them as my children, and I say to the 
governor of the hospital that out of those who 
for a given time, say for a year, display the 
most industry, steadiness and virtue, I will make 
my selection, and adopt them into my family. 
Unless they prove virtuous and industrious, I 
will not adopt them, but my determination in the 
first place, is not founded on their worth, but 
arises out of my own will and pleasure. I do 
not use this as illustrating the doctrine of 
Election in all its particulars, but simply with 
reference to this one point, the foundation of my 
determination to choose some of the number of 
orphans to be my adopted children. When I 
come to carry my purpose out, and receive them 
into my family, then I will have respect to their 



ON ELECTION. 79 

character ; but as it respects the formation of a 
purpose in my mind to select some, it is based 
simply and entirely upon my own pleasure, and 
not upon the future character of my destined 
proteges. This is what we mean by the 
statement that Election is unconditional. It is 
not that God has determined to save a part of 
the human race, no matter what they may be, 
but that the ground of His determination is His 
own sovereign will and pleasure. 

But when God comes to carry out this 
decree in the case of individuals, then we see 
that it secures the formation of a holy character. 
It is the penitent, believing, holy living man 
who is saved. The man who in reliance on the 
divine grace, and in compliance with the divine 
command, diligently uses the appointed means 
of salvation is blessed by God to the saving of 
his soul. The impenitent, careless, unbelieving, 
ungodly man, is left to reap the awful conse- 
quences of his wickedness and folly. If means 
are not as much a part of the purpose of God as 
the ends ; in other words, if some men are to be 
lost, let them do what they will, then we should 
expect to find some instances of men who had 



80 DISCOURSES 

tried in earnest to secure salvation, had used 
all the means, and had at last failed of eternal 
life. But who ever heard of a case like this ? 
Who ever heard of a man who repented of sin, 
believed on the Redeemer, and tried in 
dependence upon grace to live a holy life, who 
failed at last of salvation ? And who ever heard 
of a man who lived and died in the enjoyment 
of the gospel hope, who did not use those means 
which God has made the condition of salvation 
for every individual ? This then is the doctrine 
of Election. God has determined from all 
eternity to save a portion of the human race. 
This purpose embraces all who repent of sin, and 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and live holy 
lives. All men who do this, are of the elect, 
and will certainly be saved. All men are 
commanded to do this, and are guilty for not 
doing it, and they who refuse to do it are not of 
the elect and will perish forever; but their 
destruction is chargeable only to their own 
refusal to do what God requires as the indispen- 
sable condition of salvation, in the case of all 
His creatures. 



ON ELECTION. 81 

We now proceed to show the use and glory 
of this doctrine. 

I. It is honorable to God. It declares 
and magnifies His sovereignty. If you were to 
ask me what is the truth in which angels and 
all holy beings take the greatest delight, I 
should answer, it is that " the Lord reigneth." 
And it is just this truth against w T hich devils 
and wicked men rage with intense though 
impotent fury. But if a good government well 
administered is the greatest blessing to a state 
or nation, then it must be a glorious thing for 
the universe that God is supreme. Infinite in 
wisdom, to devise the best measures for the wel- 
fare of His wide empire, boundless in benevolence 
to prompt to their adoption, and of unlimited 
power to be able fully to carry them into 
execution : the fact that He is at the head of 
the government of the Universe is a ground of 
confidence, of rejoicing and of glorying to all His 
subjects. From the idea of " cold necessity" or 
"frantic chance" as the originator and ruler of 
all things, the mind recoils in dismay and horror, 
to stay itself upon the satisfying and comforting 



82 DISCOUESES 

doctrine of a sovereign God. The doctrine we 
have considered exalts God as the ruler of the 
universe. It represents Him as sitting in His 
majesty, conceiving His own august purposes, 
and carrying them into complete and glorious 
accomplishment, according to the counsel of His 
own will. If we deny this doctrine we rob God 
of His independence and His power. We make 
His purposes dependent on, and controlled by 
His creatures ; for if God has willed that all 
men shall be saved, and all are not saved, then 
either God has not power to carry out His 
designs, or His will is dependent upon that of 
His creatures. If He has not willed that all 
should be saved, or in other words, if He has 
determined to save only a portion of the human 
race, then we find Him carrying out His 
purposes, unrestrained and unfettered by any 
power in His w T ide universe. We must admit 
if God has any purpose at all in reference to 
man's salvation, either that He has not deter- 
mined to save the whole human race, or that 
He has determined to do it. If He has 
determined to do so, then all will be saved, or 
else God is not able to carry out His own 



0ST ELECTION. 83 

purposes. He is not omnipotent, and therefore 
is not God. If He has not determined to do it, 
then all will not be saved, or else He cannot be 
supreme. To one result or the other you are 
inevitably driven, if you deny this doctrine. 
God either has no purpose at all in respect to 
man's salvation, or else He is not able to carry 
out His purposes. Either of these views 
virtually breaks down the throne of Jehovah, 
and wrenches the sceptre of the universe from 
His hand. His independence and omnipotence 
are gone at once. And what is there left as a 
ground of confidence in God as a sovereign? 
Nothing. What are wisdom, and holiness, and 
goodness, without power ? What security have 
you under the administration of such a God, that 
the good will enjoy His favor permanently, or 
that the wicked will not burst the dungeons of 
hell and scale in triumph the very battlements 
of heaven ? But establish His sovereignty ; let 
Him do His will in the armies of heaven, and 
among the inhabitants of the earth ; let none 
stay His hand, or say unto Him, " what doest 
thou," and the interests of the universe are safe, 
and all holy beings can repose in perfect 



84 DISCOURSES 

confidence beneath the shadow of His throne. 
There is no doctrine which makes God so great 
as this ; none which places Him on so lofty a 
throne ; none which establishes more conclu- 
sively the fact that He is supreme, and that He 
doeth all things according to the counsel of His 
own will. And what a glorious truth it is that 
" The Lord reigneth." Let devils rage, and 
wicked men declare that they will not have God 
to reign over them, yet to the good what doctrine 
can be of such strengthening and comforting 
power as that of the absolute sovereignty of 
God ? He is a perfect Being, in His wisdom, 
justice, goodness and power. He knows every 
thing, He can do every thing, while His perfect 
holiness and benevolence afford a guarantee that 
His wisdom will never be perverted, or His 
power abused. Amid all the chances and 
changes of time ; amid all that is mysterious and 
trying in life ; amid doubt and conjecture, and 
ignorance, as to the ordering of things below, 
this one truth is the anchor of faith and hope, 
pours oil on the troubled waters, and says to the 
waves of doubt and fear, " peace, be still !" 
The doctrine of Election then, which more than 



ON ELECTION. 85 

any other, magnifies the divine sovereignty, and 
establishes His independence and omnipotence, 
is in the highest degree honorable to God. 

2d. But this doctrine not only glorifies the 
independence and power of God, but it displays 
His love in the most beautiful and impressive 
light. We talk of the love of God, but ah ! 
how unable we are to rise to any adequate con- 
ception of that love. But look again at a 
picture so familiar that its great points may 
have become almost undistinguishable by reason 
of their very familiarity. There is rebellion in 
heaven. Bright and glorious " sons of the 
morning," who sat on celestial thrones and sung 
to heavenly harps, are dashed down to hell, 
withered and blighted by an anthema from their 
insulted God. Behold those vacant thrones, 
those tuneless harps, and then behold the 
dungeons of Hell, and listen to its awful chorus 
of mingled defiance and despair. You see sin, 
and its legitimate consequences, and it is all 
just and right. The hand that could raise the 
standard of rebellion against such a God, ought 
to be shrivelled in the unquenchable flame. 

Look now at a race of creatures lower in the 

8 



86 DISCOURSES 

scale of being. They too rebel, they lift their 
puny hands against the throne of God, and 
raise their feeble voices in shouts of rebellious 
defiance. Are they too blasted by the maledic- 
tion of Jehovah ? The curse is on them, on 
them all, but its execution is suspended. 
Behold now a sight of wonder, a most unexpected 
and astonishing spectacle. The Son of God, 
the brightness of the Father's glory, the express 
image of His person, leaves the homage and 
music of the skies. He veils the divinity in 
human flesh. He is a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief; a pure, holy, humble, 
obedient, suffering man. He moves among the 
sons of men like a messenger of heavenly mercy ; 
He spends a short life of privation and toil and 
reproach, yet of perfect obedience to the law of 
God ; He dies on the cross, a bleeding, mangled 
victim ; He is laid in a rocky sepulchre ; He 
rises from the tomb ; He ascends again to the 
skies, and there could we behold him to-day, we 
should see Him bowing as our Intercessor before 
the eternal throne, and " claiming His own at His 
Father's hands, like a conqueror demanding the 
trophies of his conquest." But this is not all. 



ON ELECTION. 87 

Around that throne, we see a great multitude, 
which no man can number, clothed in white 
robes, and waving the palm-branch of triumph, 
and as we listen, an anthem-peal of the richest 
melody bursts from that glorious company — 
" Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the 
throne, and to the Lamb," and the chorus is 
taken up again, and wafted over the heavenly 
plains until it dies away in the far off regions of 
interminable space. " Worthy is the Lamb that 
was slain to receive power and riches, and 
wisdom and strength, and honor and glory, and 
blessing." "Who are these," we ask, "which 
are arrayed in white robes, and whence came 
they ?" Ah ! they are not the holy angels who 
never sinned, nor are they those " lost sons of 
the morning" restored to holiness and heaven ; 
but they are poor mortal sinners for whom Christ 
died, for whom He interceded, and who have 
been redeemed by His blood out of every 
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, 
and made kings and priests unto God. Tell me 
now, why was all this ? Why did Jesus die for 
men and not for angels ? Why have these 
unnumbered myriads been rescued from death 



88 DISCOURSES 

and hell, and brought to heaven " with songs 
and everlasting joy upon their heads ?" Why ? 
ah ! my brethren, our text gives us an answer 
to this inquiry. " We are bound always to give 
thanks to God for you, brethren beloved of the 
Lord, because God hath from the beginning 
chosen you unto salvation." Here is the 
answer. Because God had an eternal purpose 
of mercy towards fallen man, and to carry out 
this grand purpose "the costly processes of the 
incarnation and the sacrifice" of Christ were 
instituted. Yea, brethren, our doctrine sheds 
an everlasting halo around the love of God. 
Had there been no purpose to save, there would 
have been no Saviour. If there be no election, 
then verily there is no atonement, no mediation, 
no Spirit strivings w^ith poor lost sinners to lead 
them to Jesus, no pardon, no justification, no 
victory over death, no crown of heavenly glory. 
If there be no eternal purpose to save, Bethle- 
hem, Gethsemane, Calvary, are nothing to us ; 
their power and meaning all grow out of the 
fact that they are the fruit of an eternal purpose 
to rescue a portion of our apostate race from 
sin, and its curse. Here then is the love of 



ON ELECTION. 89 

God displayed in this doctrine, in the clearest 
light. The whole history of Redemption is but 
the working out of God's eternal purpose of 
mercy in Christ, to those who "were chosen in 
Him before the foundation of the world." 

Thus honorable to God is the doctrine of 
Election. It is no less a doctrine of comfort and 
hope to man. 

I. It is so to the inquiring sinner. So far 
from discouraging him, it is the only rational 
ground of encouragement and hope . He has just 
begun to see how far he is froni God, to under- 
stand how great his sin is, and what an awful 
condemnation it has justly brought upon him. 
When he thinks of himself, it is not as of a man 
overtaken by misfortune, but deeply involved in 
guilt. He is ready to despair when he thinks 
of God's law and its terrible sanctions, and 
remembers that he has incurred its penalty. 
Oh! can such a guilty wretch as I, have any 
right to hope that I can be saved ? What 
words of encouragement can you speak to me 
that may inspire me with courage to make an 
effort to "flee from the wrath to come?" Let 
8* 



90 DISCOURSES 

now the anti-Calvinist answer this convicted, 
trembling sinner, and what can he tell him? 
The most that he can say is, salvation is barely 
possible to you. Ah, replies the agonized soul, 
is this all you can tell me ? Is a bare possibility 
all that you can give me to cling to ? Is there 
no certainty about this matter ? Yes! anxious 
soul, there is a certainty that millions will be 
saved, for God has revealed an eternal purpose 
to snatch them as brands from the burning, and 
bring them into the kingdom of His dear Son. 
To carry out this purpose He sent that Son to 
make an atonement, sufficient in itself for the 
whole world, and to furnish a ground of justifica- 
tion and pardon to all who repent and believe. 
But what is the number of those embraced in 
this purpose, and is my name among them ? 
No name is revealed to mortal eve, but there is 
no limit fixed. God has determined to save 
some, and all who comply with the conditions 
connected with salvation, are embraced in that 
purpose, and will certainly be saved. It is 
more than a bare possibility- — it is a certainty, 
for it is based upon an eternal and immutable 
purpose of a sovereign God. Ah! says the 
trembling man, this is the doctrine for me. 



ON ELECTION. 91 

This meets my case. There is a certainty that 
some will be saved. The offer is made to all — 
it is made to me; I will try and seek it, for 
some will surely gain it, and there is therefore 
hope for me. Yes, my hearers, this doctrine is 
the very one to preach to an anxious, inquiring 
sinner, for his encouragement and comfort. 
Take it away, and there is no hope for him. 
Those who reject this doctrine take away the only 
star from the sinner's darkened sky. And this 
is not mere assertion. The objectors to our 
doctrine say, men are saved by freely accepting 
the offers of God's mercy. ' But the scriptures 
uniformly represent man as so depraved and 
lost that he never will, if left to himself, accept 
these merciful offers and be saved. "No man 
can come unto me except the Father which hath 
sent me draw him." (John 6 : 44.) " Ye will 
not come unto me that ye might have life." 
(John 5: 40.) "The carnal mind is enmity 
against God, for it is not subject to the law of 
God, neither indeed can be." (Rom. 8:7.) 
If then, no man can ever repent and come to 
Christ, without a special influence on the part of 
God, and God has not revealed to us any 



92 DISCOURSES 

purpose of granting this influence to any of His 
creatures, what hope is there left for the sinner? 
How can you ever pray for the conversion of an 
impenitent friend ? Ah, the men who object to the 
doctrine of Election, reject it in their arguments, 
but always acknowledge it in their prayers. 
When they speak to men they deny the doctrine, 
when they speak to God, then they confess it. 
You cannot pray for a sinner without acknowledg- 
ing this doctrine. What do you ask of God for 
your impenitent friend? You ask Him, and 
with deep earnestness of appeal, to change his 
heart, to lead him to repentance, to send the 
special influences of the Holy Spirit upon him, 
and constrain him to submit to God. What 
right have you to put up such a prayer to God, 
if He has not a purpose to do just such things 
for His guilty and ruined creatures? And if 
this purpose embraces all men, why do you pray 
with so much fervor and agony for your individ- 
ual friend, and ask God to exert a special 
influence upon him in particular, and do for him 
what He intends to do for all men ? You cannot 
utter a single petition for an impenitent sinner 
without acknowledging this doctrine. Christian 



ON ELECTION. . 93 

parent, why do you pray so imploringly for your 
child, that God will bring him to repentance and 
save his precious soul ? On what ground do you 
base your request? On the determination of 
God to save all men ? Then why do you pray 
for him ? On the determination of God to save 
none? Then his case and yours alike are 
hopeless. If He has determined nothing about 
it, what encouragement have you to pray ? Ah ! 
you plead for that beloved child because God 
has a purpose of mercy, certain and immutable, 
to some, and you w^ant your child to be one of 
God's elect. 

In this connection I will speak of the glory of 
this doctrine, in reference to those who die in 
infancy. Many gross and wicked slanders have 
been heaped on Calvinists in reference to the 
tendencies of their system in respect to infants. 
We believe that children dying in infancy, are 
among the elect, and embraced in the purposes 
of God. But if there is no decree of Election, 
what ground have we for our hope with respect 
to our children? They are naturally depraved, 
and are under the curse of sin, else they would 
not suffer and die. Now what will you do with 



94 • DISCOURSES 

this difficulty? You object to the doctrine that 
God has out of His mere good pleasure elected 
some to everlasting life, and yet you claim that 
children, who are "by nature children of wrath," 
and if spared will certainly act out their 
depraved nature and sin, are saved and made 
holy and happy in heaven. If this be so, then 
they must be chosen to salvation by God, and 
their Election is just as liable to objection as that 
of any other persons, because it is a discrimina- 
tion on the part of God in favor of a portion of 
the human race. Do you say, infants are 
innocent of any actual sin ; we reply, no man is 
saved in sin; the elect are chosen to holiness, 
and thus to salvation. This is the dilemma to 
which you are reduced by a denial of the 
doctrine of Election. If you deny that infants 
are elect, you consign them forever to perdition. 
If you admit that they are saved, it is just as 
much a gratuitous, unconditional decree on God's 
part, as that for which we contend in the case 
of any man. Says another, "Why does God 
take one infant to heaven while as yet it is 
unstained with actual sin, and leave another to 
grow up in impenitence, to become polluted with 



ON ELECTION. 95 

crime, and sink at last under His fearful 
displeasure? What is this but sovereign, dis- 
criminating mercy, exerted to the utmost extent 
ever contended for by the most rigid Calvinist ? 
Why is one taken to glory in infancy, and 
another, born on the same day, spared to old 
age, only to treasure up wrath against a day of 
wrath?" For all the comfort and joy which 
comes to the desolate and bleeding heart of 
bereaved parents, when their young children 
are taken away from them by death, they are 
indebted to this glorious doctrine. 

I repeat it, this is the doctrine for the sinner, 
and to prove it I have only to advert to the 
prayers that are offered in their behalf. You 
object to the doctrine that God has determined 
to select a portion of the human race, and make 
them the subjects of His saving grace. Go now 
and pray for a dear child, or brother, or husband, 
or wife, or friend. For what will you pray? 
Why for the very thing which you say God has 
never determined to do. You deliberately and 
earnestly ask God to select your friend from the 
mass of sinners, to change his heart, to renew 
his nature, to lead him to the Saviour and make 



96 DISCOURSES 

him an heir of heaven. You acknowledge that 
if God does not do this, he will never be saved. 
Now suppose God hears your prayers, and grants 
your request. He does bring your friend to 
repentance, and you rejoice over him as one 
that was dead and is alive again — was lost and 
is found. But if God does this, He must do it 
by design. And if He designs to do it, He 
must always have designed to do it, for "known 
unto God are all His works from the foundation 
of the world." So, brethren, do not object to 
our preaching the doctrine of Election, when 
you pray it, in every petition you utter in behalf 
of an impenitent sinner. But that which is the 
very foundation of your prayers for sinners 
cannot surely be a hopeless or disheartening 
doctrine. 

3. This doctrine is essential to the culti- 
vation and growth of some of the noblest Christian 
virtues in the believer. It is fitted to deepen 
and strengthen his love. The apostle declares 
that "we love him because He first loved us." 
And what doctrine so strikingly displays not 
only God's love, but His peculiar love to us? 



ON ELECTIOX. 97 

When I remember that He looked upon me, in 
my lost estate, and when there was nothing in 
my character to recommend me to His favor, that 
He freely selected me from others, and made 
me the subject of His grace ; when I remember 
that the reason why I am not to-day in all the 
darkness and wretchedness of my natural state, 
with the awful malediction of the law hanging 
over me, and nothing before me but an angry 
Judge, and an everlasting hell — is, that the 
sovereign mercy and grace of God would not let 
me go on in my course of sin and death, but 
sweetly constrained me to return from my wan- 
derings, to repent and be forgiven, the tide of 
grateful and intense affection must flow out of 
my deepest soul to God, and the language of my 
heart will be 

" O ! to grace how great a debtor, 
Daily I'm constrained to be." 

Humility, too, that loveliest of all the Christian 
virtues, is cultivated by this doctrine. It lays 
the axe at the root of pride and self-righteous- 
ness, magnifies the sovereign mercy of God, and 
9 



98 DISCOURSES 

teaches us to remember that "it is not of him 
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of 
God that sheweth mercy." When we feel that 
our salvation is due to nothing good in us, or 
performed by us, but that it springs from the 
free and unmerited grace and mercy of God, 
there can be no spirit of boasting, but humble 
reliance on God, grateful affection for His 
wonderful love, and a sincere and constant 
ascription to Him of all the glory of our 
salvation. 

Our doctrine also furnishes the strongest 
motive to diligence and faithfulness in the 
discharge of Christian duty. It teaches us that 
the means of our salvation are just as much a part 
of the purpose of God as the end. That we are 
chosen to salvation through sanctification of the 
Spirit and belief of the truth, and that penitence, 
faith, and holy living are the evidences of our 
being of the number of God's elect. How 
powerful then the motive to obedience, to faith, 
to holiness. These are the indispensable eviden- 
ces of the reality of our hope, the title deeds to 
our heavenly inheritance. Without them there 
is nothing in the decree of Election that can 



ON ELECTION. 99 

save us, for God has not determined to save men 
in that way, but through the means which He 
has appointed. Here then is a constant and 
adequate stimulus to duty. Our hopes, our all, 
depend upon it. The moment we neglect duty 
our hopes fade, and the evidence of our Election 
is weakened. It is only by a steadfast adher- 
ence to the principles of the kingdom of Christ, 
and the daily practice of Christian virtue, that 
we make our calling and Election sure. So far 
then from being a snare to the Christian, to lead 
him to security and indolence, this doctrine is 
the very one to act always as a stimulus to 
renewed exertion and increased faithfulness. 
It assures the believer that he is chosen by God 
unto salvation, but it also assures him that he 
is chosen to holiness as a condition of salvation, 
and "without holiness no man shall see the 
the Lord." 

Again — this doctrine furnishes the only 
ground of assurance to the Christian that he 
shall finally attain to everlasting life. His 
salvation is not an uncertainty, a possibility. It 
is based upon the immutable purpose of God, 
and it shall certainly come to pass. He may 



100 DISCOURSES 

daily mourn over sin, and sigh over the corrup- 
tion that remains in his heart. He may "find 
a law in his members warring against the law 
in his mind, and bringing him into captivity to 
the law of sin, which is in his members." 
Temptation may beset him at every step of his 
journey. The world, the flesh, and the devil, 
may oppose his progress. He may often cry 
out in anguish, " Who is sufficient for these 
things?" But his sufficiency is of God. He 
who chose him in Christ before the world began: 
He who sent his son to die for his salvation — He 
who gently constrained him to believe and 
repent, will not leave His good work unfinished. 
Christ "shall see of the travail of his soul and 
be satisfied." Every sinner for whom He died, 
and who hangs his hope of salvation on His cross, 
shall be redeemed by His blood, and brought to 
Mount Zion above. It is a glorious truth, breth- 
ren, your salvation is not an uncertain thing. 
Be not discouraged. " Greater is He that is in 
us, than he that is in the world." "Who shall 
lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It 
is Christ that died." "Who shall separate us 
from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or 



ON ELECTION. 101 

distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked- 
ness, or peril, or sword ? Nay, in all these 
things we are more than conquerors, through 
him that hath loved us. For I am persuaded 
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor prin- 
cipalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
other creature shall be able to separate us from 
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." 

Yes ! brethren, this doctrine is the rock on 
which we build, the anchor of our hope. Take 
this away, and the most that is left us is a bare 
possibility of salvation. Now we have a cer- 
tainty. The language of the 17 th article of the 
Church of England, which I quote directly from 
the Book of Common Prayer, shows in what light 
that venerable church regards it. " The godly 
consideration of predestination, and of our Elec- 
tion in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and un- 
speakable comfort to godly persons, and such as 
feel in themselves the working of the spirit of 
Christ, as well because it doth greatly estab- 
lish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation, 
to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth 



102 DISCOURSES 

fervently enkindle their love toward God." 
Such is the natural effect of the proper appre- 
hension of this doctrine by the pious heart. It 
confirms the hope of salvation, while it prompts 
to deeper love for that God whose eternal pur- 
pose secures that salvation. It is a doctrine 
which man cannot do without. It opens first 
the door of hope to the sinner. It tells him 
that God has not determined, as in the case of 
the angels, to leave all men in the ruin and 
woe of the apostacy. It calls on him to be up 
and doing in the use of the means which God 
has provided and freely offered to him, and 
through which his salvation has been decreed 
by God. It teaches him when he has believed 
and been forgiven, to what to ascribe the praise 
and glory. It keeps him humble. It makes 
him faithful. It increases his love. It com- 
forts him in despondency, gives him strength to 
resist temptation, to struggle on to the end of his 
earthly pilgrimage, and makes him conqueror 
and more than conqueror through Him that has 
loved him. It is a good doctrine. It is a glo- 
rious doctrine. We cannot get to heaven with- 
out it, though w T e may know it not, and it will 



ON ELECTION. 103 

be the burden of our songs of gratitude through 
everlasting ages. 

I have now set before you, as concisely and 
plainly as I am able, the Scriptural doctrine of 
Election. The doctrine as I have stated it to 
you, is held by the great majority of Christian 
denominations throughout the world. I have 
presented it to you, in the regular course of my 
ministrations, simply because it is an important 
doctrine of the word of God, and therefore 
bound to be presented by the public expounders 
of that word. And I should. regard it as a hap- 
py omen, if this discussion should awaken any 
of you to a better sense of the great importance 
of a thorough acquaintance with the doctrines 
of grace, and lead to a more diligent and pray- 
erful study of the Holy Scriptures, to see if 
these things be so. There is great need that 
you be intelligent Christians, and able to give a 
reason of the faith that is in you — that you be 
able to defend that faith from the sneers of the 
infidel, or the sophistries of the opposer, and 
that you should especially be careful to teach 
your children, and those committed to your care, 



104 DISCOURSES ON ELECTION. 

those great Scriptural truths by which alone 
they can be "made wise unto salvation." 

And now, let this doctrine exert its natural 
and legitimate influence both upon the Chris- 
tian and the sinner. Let it keep the Christian 
always humble, faithful, obedient, loving. Thus 
shall he have the witness in himself, that he is 
one of the elect of God, and make his " calling 
and Election sure." 

Let it encourage the sinner to "strive to 
enter in at the strait gate," and "lay hold on 
eternal life," remembering that while he needs 
a special purpose and positive agency on the 
part of God to save him, he needs only to 
remain where he is to ensure his perdition. 

Instead of cavilling against the very doctrine 
which affords you hope, and assures you that 
there is a purpose of mercy, in which you may 
be included, address yourself to the duty of 
immediate repentance and faith, and your salva- 
tion is sure, "because God hath from the begin- 
ning chosen you to salvation, through sanctifi- 
cation of the Spirit, and belief of the truth." 



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